The Zambia Chamber of Mines, an organisation representing Mining and allied companies operating in Zambia, have appointed a new President at its Council meeting held this December.

The new President, Mr Goodwell Mateyo takes over from Mr Nathan Chishimba who has retired as the Chamber policy head after two consecutive terms.

Mr Chishimba provided oversight on the policy and lobbying activities of the mining sector during a period of Energy deficit, Value Added Tax Refund crises and several changes to the fiscal regime in the sector. He was involved in cementing relations with the Zambian government and signed up to the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, an initiative which encourages government, mining companies and civil society organisations to show transparency and accountability in the extraction of Zambia’s natural resources.

The incoming Chamber President is a highly experienced Executive who has demonstrated ability in regulatory engagements in the mining and financial sectors. A lawyer by profession, Mr Mateyo has worked as a legal advisor to the mining industry for years.

Mr Mateyo will be deputised by Mr Nicolas Bowen a seasoned industry veteran who will serve as Vice President.

Mr Mateyo takes over the policy lobby group at a time when the mining industry is facing an imminent change in its fiscal regime as outlined in the 2019 National Budget announced by the Minister of Finance.

Mr Mateyo took this opportunity to disclose that members of the Chamber are thus reviewing their operations and having to consider scaling back substantially while reducing capital expenditure by over a half a billion dollars over the next three years. Consequently, reductions of over seven thousand direct jobs and more than double this number of indirect jobs would result.

“While feedback on our representations to the Ministry of Finance is awaited, the membership remains hopeful of averting such an outcome and are strongly committed to robust engagement above and beyond the process outlined by the Minister in which the reconstitution of the Tax Policy Review Committee was announced.” Mr Mateyo said.